Sunday, September 30, 2001

Bad Waiter Interface I had dinner the other day with Creative Good founder Mark Hurst at Mellow Yellow in Chicago. On the way out, we noted how terrible the interface on their computer register was, with poorly labeled, ordered, and placed buttons. As we discussed this, a waiter, who used to be a programmer, came up and started demonstrating just how bad it was. He told us that they used to have a better system before, and this was a new installation all the employees hated. The old system had been built from user needs, the new system was simply designed (and purchased) by people who never had to use it. No wonder it's terrible to use and hurtful to productivity.